


30 Weeks And 2 Days

by FicNess



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Breastfeeding, M/M, Mpreg, Mpreg Louis, natural birth, premature baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:40:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicNess/pseuds/FicNess
Summary: A pregnancy is supposed to be 40 weeks. Long, hard weeks, Not 30 weeks and 2 days.





	

“This can’t be happening Haz, it can’t.” Louis said, his voice tight and thin as pain and panic gripped his body.

“But it is baby.” Harry pushed his palms in to the base of Louis’ spine, trying to ease some of the pressure and the growing tightness in his aching muscles. “It’s all gonna be ok.”

“No it fucking isn’t!” Louis shouted and wiped the back of his hand over his eyes, the tears still flowing from this morning with barely a break. “How is this ok?”

Louis groaned and leaned into the wall again, his breathing slow and regular. He moaned loudly and looked at the clock as he rocked his hips from side to side. Great, another one was starting. His contractions were five minutes apart, he was in pain, sweaty and scared.

“You’re doing so well Lou. I’m so proud of you.” Harry kept rubbing Louis back as the pain wracked his overworked body.

“I don’t want this Haz.” Louis’ tears got worse and heavy sobs shook his body as the contraction eased off. “She can’t come now, she just can’t.” The contraction had ended and Louis slumped backwards into Harry, letting him take his full weight.

“But she is,” Harry said, biting his lip to hold back his own tears. He pulled Louis round to fold him into his large arms, his scarily small bump pressing in to Harry’s stomach. “And it’ll be ok.”

“I’m thirty fucking weeks and two days!” Louis sobbed into Harry’s shoulder, gripping the front of his t-shirt tightly. “I’m too early. This can’t be happening.”

Harry scooped Louis into his arms and carried him to the rocking chair. He pressed kisses to every part of his face he could reach. He was aching inside, just wanting to stop the labor, go back to bed, stop worrying about the tiny girl fighting her way out of Louis way to early.

Waking up to Louis screaming in a puddle of fluid at three in the morning had been one of the most terrifying things that had ever happened to him and Louis had been distraught ever since. He’d rushed him to the hospital - still in his soggy pajama bottoms - and they had been admitted to the maternity ward straight away. The doctors hadn’t attempted to stop the labor as Louis was at seven centimeters already - so he may have been in labor all yesterday too, if only they’d noticed then maybe, just maybe … But he couldn’t think like that - and his membranes had ruptured. They had decided the best option was to let him deliver and then admit the baby to the NICU for as long as she needed. He’d had steroid injections for her lungs and now it was just a waiting game.

And so far they’d been waiting five hours.

“I’m scared too babe, but we can’t stop her. Just concentrate on getting her out. Once she’s here the doctors will take care of her.”

“But what did I do wrong? Why’s she coming now?” Louis bit his lip and sniffed, trying to hold back the sobs.

“You did nothing wrong, it happens, she’s just desperate to meet us.”

Louis gripped Harry even tighter, “I’m so scared Haz.”

Harry placed another kiss to Louis forehead. “Me too babe, me too.”

XX

Harry paced up and down the hospital corridor, waiting for Liam to pick up his cell. “Jesus Christ, where are you? Answer your damn calls!” He kicked the wall and growled, impatience and fear getting the best of him.

“Lo?”

Finally - after the fifth missed call - Liam picked up. “Oh thank fuck!”

“Harry? That you?”

“Yeah,” Harry took a deep breath. “Shit Liam, it’s all gone wrong!” Harry began to cry the way he hadn’t dared when he was with Louis.

“Hey, hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

Harry could practically hear Liam trying to hug him down the line. “We’re at the hospital. Louis has … At three this morning … He’s only thirty weeks … It can’t be happening … He’s terrified …”

“Harry … Harry! Take a breath and slow down!”

Liam heard Harry take a shuddery breath. His words were jumbled and coming a mile a minute. All Liam had managed to catch were the words hospital, thirty weeks and three this morning.

From that combination he had a sick feeling that he knew exactly what was happening.

“He’s in labor Liam. He woke up at three in pain and his waters had broken. He’s in pieces. I know babies born at thirty weeks have a brilliant survival rate but I’m so fucking scared.”

Liam felt tears of his own welling up. Ever since Niall had given birth to Lily a year and a half ago (and a week late) Harry and Louis had been desperate for a baby. They’d tried and tried and ended up with the best (if most vomity) Christmas anyone could dream of. Seven weeks on Christmas Day and announced via twitter moments after the round of phone calls to parents and nearest and dearest had been made. Louis had wanted to tell the world about his special present. They were already so in love with this baby that he knew if anything went wrong it would just wrench their hearts out.

“Oh Harry, I’m so, so sorry. What can I do? What do you need?”

“A hug, mostly.” Harry sniffed and Liam resisted the urge to tell him to blow his nose. Right now that was the last thing he needed. "They’ve given Lou a couple of steroid shots to help her lungs mature a little more, but other than that she’s pretty much fully developed. But she’s going to be so tiny! Nothing we’ve bought for her will fit. She’s only going to be about three pounds and not much over fifteen inches. And she can’t leave the hospital until she’s five pounds and it’s just a huge fucking mess!”

Liam’s brain immediately went into organisational mode. “What do you need?”

“Her inside for ten more weeks.” Harry gave a bitter laugh. “But seriously,” Liam heard Harry sigh and knew if he was there he’d be pinching the bridge of his nose and have his eyes scrunched up. “Nothing we have will fit her when we eventually get her home, she’s gonna be too small for all the clothes and diapers and her sleeping bag. She needs a hat, some scratch mittens and something to keep her feet warm while she’s here. Um. We need a breast pump for Lou. He’s gonna feed her when he can but she might need a tube to begin with, so he can express then put it in the tube so she’s still getting his breast milk. And … Fuck Li, I’ve got no idea! The nursery isn’t fully finished, we haven’t put her crib together. This shouldn’t be happening.”

“Oh Harry,” Liam just wanted to hold Harry for a bit. “Leave it with me. We’ll get it sorted. I’ll bring the stuff you need to you while the guys finish the nursery and I’ll look it up and see if there’s anything else you need.”

“Fuck. Liam, I love you! Thank you so much.”

“No problem. Just get back in there and concentrate on your family. Oh, did you have a hospital bag packed for Lou? If not I’ll sort that and some clothes and a wash bag for you.”

“God Liam, I have none of that. You’re a genius! Seriously, you will never get how much this means.”

Liam let out a single laugh, “It’s cool. Really. Just get back to Louis.”

XX

“Harry please, no, I can’t! I don’t want to!”

“Ok, it’s ok.” Harry leant his forehead against Louis who nuzzled in to him as he muttered ‘no’ repeatedly, “But when you feel the urge to push if you’re fully dilated you need to push. Keeping her inside longer than she needs to be will just make her sick.”

“Don’t make me, please don’t make me. I don’t want to push. I can’t.”

Harry could feel his heart breaking as he nuzzled Louis. “Just relax honey. Please.” He felt Louis take a few deep breaths and then he groaned loudly and his body tensed up as another contraction started. “Breathe with me now, come on.”

Harry started to do the breathing they had learnt very quickly once they were in a room, and Louis followed him. Louis had tried the gas and air but didn’t like it so now it was just breathing and Harry getting him through. Harry watched the clock on the wall as time passed way to slowly. By the time a minute had passed Louis was starting to relax again.

“Hurts so much.”

“Louis,” the midwife leant a hand on Louis hip. “I’m going to check you as I think you’re ready to push.”

Louis bit his lip and nodded. “I … Um … Yeah, I can kinda feel it.”

“Do you need to?”

Louis shook his head, “Not yet.”

“When your body needs to it’ll tell you, and it’ll be hard to hold back. Most moms find their body just does it automatically. Now hold tight, I’m going to check you.”

Louis grimaced and hissed as she did what she needed to, Harry gripping him a little tighter. She poked around for a bit before pulling out and binning her gloves. Just as she finished Louis felt another contraction. He dropped his head to Harry’s shoulder, moaning softly and struggling to keep his breathing regular. The midwife looked at the clock. Two minutes from start of a contraction to start of the next and lasting a minute. She rubbed Louis back until she felt his tenseness ease up and his breathing returned to normal.

“You’re ten centimetres and the head is just starting to come through your cervix. I’m pretty shocked you’re not actually pushing already.” She stood up, scribbled on his notes and went to the door. “I’m going to go and get the paediatrician and the second midwife, ok? We’re about to have ourselves a baby!”

When she left the room Louis broke down in tears once more, grabbing Harry and holding him as tightly as possible. “Tell me she’s ok. She’s gonna be ok.”

Harry pressed his lips to Louis neck, just below his ear. “She’s gonna make it.”

“Not comfortable.” Louis grunted and shuffled slightly, the position he was in suddenly uncomfortable. He’d been on all fours but now he just felt the need to be more upright.

“Ok, what do you need?”

He didn’t want to move from where he was. The small nest he’d created during transition where he was surrounded by blankets and pillows in the far corner of the room felt safe and comfortable. “Kneel up.”

Harry knelt up and pulled Louis with him. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and leant into him, instantly feeling better but also feeling more pressure. He groaned softly and shuffled his knees apart more.

“Comfy?” Harry nuzzled Louis neck and Louis groaned again, rocking forward.

“No,” Louis groaned. “Pressure. Lots of it.”

“You need to push?”

“Don’t know.” Louis said, groaning again.

“Ok, ok. I got you.” Harry rubbed Louis’ back softly as he groaned and tightened in on himself again, another contraction starting hot on the heels of the last. “You do what you need to do.”

Louis wasn’t exactly breathing through these last contractions, it was more a case of groans and whimpers and hurried, sucked in breaths. Harry was still holding him tightly, breathing as they were taught in the emergency intro to Lamaze they’d had once they got to the delivery room - and fuck, Louis hadn’t even carried her long enough for antenatal classes - and trying to get Louis to copy but really the only person it was calming now was him. He kept a tight hold of his husband as he whimpered and clung to him.

As the contraction eased off Louis sniffed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. ” I don’t want to push. I don’t want to.”

“Baby, you have to.” Harry placed a gentle kiss to the top of Louis head. “She needs to come out so that the doctors can look after her.”

“No, I can keep her in. I know I can.” Louis groaned as another contraction ripped through his body. This time as well as a deep groan he bit harshly into Harry’s shoulder and breathed rapidly through his nose.

Harry felt his heart break a little more as it finally all clicked in his head and he let out a small groan of his own at the realisation while holding back a hiss of the pain at the bite. He knew he’d have a bruise there when Louis removed his teeth. “Lou,” he felt the teeth release their grip on his shoulder and Louis shaking in his arms. “Are you trying not to push?”

Louis sniffed again. “It’s just, she’s too early. I can’t let her out yet. She’s too little, too …” He never finished his sentence as another contraction washed over him.

“Lou,” Harry leant down as he felt Louis’ mouth go for his shoulder again. “Push babe, push.”

Louis shook his head before it became obvious the midwife was right and his body was pushing anyway and he couldn’t actually fight the urge any more. Instead he dropped his head to Harry’s shoulder and followed what his body had been telling him for about the last six contractions. He gritted his teeth and groaned loudly as he bore down, feeling the baby push her way further like she had been doing on her own for a while.

Harry could feel Louis pushing and just held his husband tightly as contraction after contraction gripped him. The midwife behind Louis was guiding him but her voice was just background noise. All that mattered was Louis at the moment and the fact that he was in pain and scared right now. Each push he curled in tight, his face going red with the exertion. By now he was panting, sweaty and overheating. The midwife kept praising him, saying he was making progress, but Louis had started to become disheartened. He had been pushing for half an hour and there was still no baby.

“She’s so close Louis! Just a few more pushes and she’ll be here!

"No she won’t!” Louis snarled at the midwife. “I told you she didn’t want to leave and now she’s …” His words turned in to a loud groan as the next contraction appeared. Without even making the conscious decision his body began to push again, Louis bearing down as the urge came and went during the contraction.

“Louis, I can see her head,” the midwife placed her hand on the small of his back. “That was a brilliant push, she moved really well. She’s right there.” Louis whined and shook his head, she wasn’t, she couldn’t be. The midwife could sense Louis losing heart and did what she knew always worked best with moms who had had enough or just felt they couldn’t carry on. “Would you like to see?” Louis took a deep breath and nodded, needing to see his baby girl was there, just waiting, and the midwife picked up a mirror and placed it between his legs. “Look down Louis.”

Louis let out a chocked off sob as he saw the unfamiliar sight between his legs. There was the top of a head, his daughters head, right there and about to come through. “Oh my god!” He let his hand travel down and touch the soft skin on the top of her head. “That’s her Harry, that’s our little girl!”

Harry looked down between his and Louis’ body, needing to tilt his head around the bump pressed in to him to get a look at the mirror. He gasped. “Wow.” He’d watched videos of childbirth to prepare him for this but it was so much … More than he expected. Waves of love and excitement and pure admiration for both the tiny girl and Louis filled him. “I can see her, Lou. You’ve nearly done it!”

Louis let out a small laugh, his hand staying where it was as another contraction started and the head began to emerge as he panted like he’d been told to. He cradled it gently, a whimper leaving his lips as the contraction and need to push wore off. She was part way out, tips of her tiny ears just visible. Louis’ fingers were tracing over the delicate features he could reach. Her tiny eyebrows, tiny eyelids, eyes scrunched up tight. The start of her nose, the tips of her ears. The whole of her head was fitting in the palm of his hand as it pushed through.

Harry watched in amazement as the next two contractions brought her head out completely, her tiny eyes actually opening as it emerged. Harry smiled. “She’s opened her eyes Lou, she opened her eyes!”

Louis peered down again, still cradling her head, and looked in the mirror at her eyes. Her eyelids moved as she slowly blinked. He smiled up at Harry and then groaned again, his other hand slipping down to cradle her shoulder as it followed and was soon out, the baby turned so she was looking up at Louis.

“One more push and she’ll be out.” The midwife leant behind herself and grabbed a blanket, ready to wrap the tiny girl in. “Catch her and pull her straight to your chest so she stays warm. Give her a kiss and say hi, both of you, then we’re going to have to take her. Sorry to grab her as soon as she’s born but we need to get her to the unit quickly.”

Louis nodded and then bit his lip as the final push began and she started to slip free. He got a good grip on her as she emerged and pulled her straight to his chest between them, breathing heavily and blinking in shock.

“Fuck Lou! She’s here! She’s here!”

The little girl seemed to suddenly realize she wasn’t warm and floating inside her mom anymore and gave the tiniest and frailest of wails. Harry and Louis both gasped and stared at her as the midwife tied off the cord and threw a blanket over Louis’ arms. Louis leant down and kissed her forehead, feeling her tiny chest heaving underneath his forearm.

“Hi baby, hi.” Louis kissed her gently again and then watched as Harry did the same. “You’re kind of a shock so we don’t have a name for you, but I promise we will by tomorrow.”

“We need to take her now.” A woman in blue scrubs leant down and opened her arms for their precious daughter. Louis wanted to argue, say no and keep hold of her, but he knew he couldn’t. He reluctantly handed her over after one last kiss as Harry took the scissors the midwife offered and cut the cord. “As soon as you’re feeling up to it you can come and see her.”

Louis nodded and watched as she was quickly checked, wrapped up and then carried hurriedly from the room.

“She’s moving well, she cried, she’s breathing and her eyes are open.” The midwife grabbed something that looked like a puppy training pad and put it between Louis’ legs. “Those are all very good signs.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah.” He looked at his husband. “What happens now?”

“We deliver the placenta, Louis has a bath, a cup of tea and something to eat.” She stopped talking as Louis groaned, one of the gentler contractions that would help him pass the placenta starting. “Then we pop him in a wheelchair and take you up to see your daughter.”

Harry sighed. “Ok. What time did she arrive?”

“Half past two. And they’ll weigh and measure her at the unit. Eleven and a half hours of active labor isn’t bad for a first. They’ll want to feed her fairly soon so we’ll find a pump so Louis can express some milk. That is, if you’re planning on breastfeeding?”

“Yeah.” Louis started but then he began to groan again, another small contraction starting.

“Right then, Louis. Let’s get you all finished so you can visit her.”

xx

Harry entered the NICU in an utterly terrified state. Somewhere in here was his little girl, hooked up to monitors and trying her best, fighting her hardest. She was going to be a fighter. Harry was sure of that.

“Mr Styles?” A nurse in purple scrubs came up to him, spotting him easily. They’d been in the middle of album promotion when all this had kicked off.

“Yeah, where is she?”

The nurse began to walk to the back of the room, Harry trailing behind her. “She’s over here. But you need to be prepared. She’s very small, her skin is very thin so she looks very pink and shiny and she has tubes and wires on her. She has nasal oxygen and a heart rate monitor and an IV in her hand. We know it looks cruel but it’s honestly the best way. She’s breathing well but she may suffer from apnoea …”

“Apnoea? What’s that?”

“She may stop breathing in her sleep …”

“WHAT?”

“It’s ok,” she placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “It’s very common with premies. All we do is move them slightly and then they start breathing again. If she’s still susceptible when we send her home she’ll come home with a monitor that sets off an alarm if she stops breathing. And normally that in itself will kick her breathing back as it’ll surprise her. But we can talk more about that when you take her home.”

‘Fucking hell.” Harry dropped his head into his hands. “This is all so fucked up.”

"It’s not easy, but at thirty weeks the outlook is very positive. You just need to hang in there and be as positive as possible.”

Harry sucked in a deep breath and let it out very slowly through his nose. “Right, right. Can I see her now?”

The nurse nodded and lead Harry towards an incubator at the back of the darkened room. They’d warned him on his way up that the room would be dim as the babies in there needed low light on their delicate eyes. Once he got to a plastic cube with the label ‘Baby Girl Tomlinson-Styles, 7/5/18, 2.30pm’ he stopped and took in a shaky breath. The nurse patted him on the shoulder then turned and walked away, leaving Harry to meet his daughter properly for the first time all alone.

He let out a sob and a hand flew to cover his mouth when he finally saw her. His other hand came to rest on the top of the incubator and he felt his chest begin to heave as the sobs wracked his body. She was so tiny, so fragile, so helpless. She lay there with her chest rapidly rising and falling, her little arms flailing occasionally and the small noises that would be a lot stronger with a baby at term still trying to escape her tiny body.

“Oh baby girl,” Harry turned and walked to the sink, washed his hands before using the cleansing gel - a procedure he’s had explained on the way up - and then went back to his daughter. “Hello darling,” He slipped his hand in to the incubator and gently rubbed the back of his fingers over her forehead. “Hello my sweet little girl. You’re beautiful, and I’m so glad you’re here. It would have been nice if you could have been here a little bit later, but we love you so much and wanted you here so badly that it’s amazing you’re here right now.” The tiny girl turned her head towards his fingers and snuffled. Harry giggled. “That’s it, I’m here. I’m your daddy. Yes I am. Your mommy is downstairs right now. He needed some sleep after delivering you but he’ll be up here as soon as he can. He wants to see you so much. But we have a name for you now. We need a name for you, precious. We hadn’t talked about it until you got here as we weren’t expecting you to be here so soon. But me and mommy know what we’re going to call you.” He looked at the tags on her wrist and ankle and the square of paper that all said ‘Baby Girl Tomlinson-Styles’ and smiled. “And you’re going to be the first person besides mommy and me that hears it.”

Smiling softly, Harry leant down and whispered her name to her, cradling her head gently in his palm as he did.

xx

“Hello?” An incredibly sleepy Liam picked up within seconds of his cell singing shrilly at him. “Haz? That you?” He heard sniffling down the line and felt his heart break. “Oh Harry …” He bit his own lip, just knowing the worst had happened. But was losing the baby the worst thing? Or was the baby surviving but Louis not … Or neither surviving … What if …

“Shit Liam. She’s here and she’s perfect!” Liam was utterly silent all of a sudden. “She cried when she came out, weak as fuck but it was a cry, and we were allowed to kiss her before they took her. She’s three pounds eight ounces and fourteen inches long. She’s got these tiny fingernails and these long eyelashes and ten fingers and ten toes and the tiniest belly and … shit, Li, she’s just perfect.”

Liam felt a smile break through and slow tears of his own started to fall. “That’s awesome Haz.”

“She’s in the NICU but she’s a little fighter. And Louis, fuck just … Louis!” Harry sniffed loudly and let out a slow breath. “He built this little den in the corner of the room. When he really got in to transition it became, like, the most vital thing of all to him. Like, he had to be surrounded by comfy stuff and on his hands and knees in it and I wasn’t allowed to move I had to be holding him. So he dragged all the sheets and pillows to the floor and made me get more from the midwives and just made a nest! And he had her in there. He’s still in it now, asleep but curled in a ball.”

“He’s ok?”

“As much as he’s gonna be right now.”

“Has he fed her?”

Harry let out a shaky breath. “She was taken away as soon as we’d said hi and then Louis had to deliver the placenta and stuff. But once it was all over and he’d had a shower, and a freakout because we’d destroyed his little nest to clean up, he got back in the re-built one and he expressed some milk. He wouldn’t do it until he was in the den again, I mean it must have felt safe, you know? But the hospital had a pump and he managed, like, two small bottles. It’ll be more now his milk’s actually started flowing. So they gave her it via a tube. I’ve been up to see her and I really had to be dragged away. They want me to go home, but I can’t leave Louis. I’m going back in. There’s room in his little nest for two. I’ll send you some pictures when I go back in.”

 

“That’s brilliant news Hazza. If he’s feeling up to visitors I’ll pop in this evening and if not I’ll leave everything at the main desk.”

“Thanks Liam. You’re a godsend. I better go dude. Need to text our parents visiting times. I’m texting you guys and the parentals a first picture and a little video of her in the NICU.”

“Awesome. You guys take care of yourselves.”

“We will. Bye Liam.”

“Bye Harry.”

xx

@Harry_Tomlinson_Styles: Harmony Grace Tomlinson-Styles has arrived 10 weeks early. Mom & baby are doing well. We won’t be about for a while as we want to be with our little girl right now. H & L. x

xx

Harmony was sailing through her time in the NICU. There had been one or two small blips, sure, but she’d fought off the minor infection she’d developed and her apnea was easily manageable and less frequent as her little lungs developed. She was putting on weight well and they’d even been able to hold her for short spells of time. Kangaroo care was something that was heavily promoted and Louis and Harry loved it. They got to take the small girl - who was still only in diapers and a wooly hat - out of her incubator and put her snuggled against their naked chests, completely skin to skin. Then they’d wrap a blanket or something around them and just snuggle. The first time they’d been allowed to do this they had cried the whole time while Harmony had just blinked up at them, snuggling down and enjoyed hearing the regular heartbeat and feeling the warmth of her mommy and daddy.

Everyone who mattered had now met their incredibly gorgeous bundle of joy, each time commenting on how much better she looked, how much weight she was putting on and how much she was interacting with everyone. She turned to face voices, made small noises, wriggled and waved her arms and legs when you spoke to her and was even giving cues like smacking her lips and chewing on her hand when she was hungry. The nurses said that she recognised her name and the way she wriggled for Harry and Louis when they came in was her reaching for them. That had made them so happy.

Until now she had only been fed via a nasal tube into her stomach, strictly milk that Louis was pumping, but since the day she’d been born he’d been desperate to breast feed his precious daughter. He was producing plenty of milk thanks to regular pumping and although he knew his nipples were still unused the rest of his pecs were already in action. And now he was cradling her to his chest and she had begun to chew on her fist.

Louis sighed, “Here, you’d better take her. She’s hungry.” He started to unwrap the blanket around his chest and got ready to hand her back.

“Nope.”

Louis blinked at the nurse who had started to smile. “But … She’s hungry. I need to pump some milk for the tube.”

The nurse smiled and wrapped Louis up again, easing him and the baby back into a comfortable position. “You can feed her yourself today.”

Louis’ eyes went wide. “What?”

“You can breast feed today.” The nurse knelt down. “Only for fifteen minutes though as after that she’s using more calories than she’s taking in. Just hold her a little higher and let her lips brush your nipple. She should still have the rooting and suckling reflex.”

Louis blinked rapidly and shuffled around a little until Harmony’s tiny mouth was level with his nipple. He deliberately made his pec twitch so his nipple brushed her pink lips and she opened them wide. Louis didn’t even dare breathe and he felt Harry’s hand gripping him even tighter as she began to root, her lips brushing his nipple but not latching on yet.

“Try squeezing out a tiny drop, it’ll help her home in.”

The nurse stood back and watched as Louis let his other hand reach his chest and he squeezed gently just behind the nipple. Almost instantly milk began to drip from it and her tiny face lifted to catch it, the smell of the milk so familiar. Louis gasped as her lips made contact and she tried to suck, not quite latching on tight enough.

“She’s not doing it. She can’t do it!” Louis felt hot tears sting his eyes and his face fell. “I just want to feed her but she can’t manage it.”

“Just wait.” The nurse said gently, kneeling down and giving him a soft smile. “She hasn’t done this before but she knows what she’s doing.”

Louis swallowed around the lump on his throat and kept her cradled gently. He could see her little mouth and throat working and could feel some milk being drawn, but she wasn’t quite getting it right.

“She needs to come off and go back on again. She’s not latched properly so if you take get off and guide her in again it should work. Just slip your little finger into the side of her mouth and slowly bring it to the front to break the suction.” Louis sus what she said but bit his lip when she started to whimper about having her meal interrupted. “Now guide her back, holding her in one hand and your nipple in the other. Guide your nipple directly into her mouth.”

Louis did and this time her tiny mouth took in the nipple and closed firmly around it, the sucking started instantly. Louis gasped them swallowed deeply.

“Fuck, Harry. This is just …”

Harry’s face broke into a smile and he handed the nurse his cell and then Louis’, already open on Instagram.

“Yeah,” he wiped away a stray tear. “Yeah Lou. Just … Yeah.”

xx

@Louis_Tomlinson_Styles: First family photo. The staff in the NICU are incredible. Can’t thank them enough. In.stgm4752dhy44

xx

They bought her home on a warm but rainy Thursday. They wrapped her up as snug as possible in her car seat - all five pounds and three ounces of her - and secured it in the back seat of Harry’s four by four, neither wanting to get into the front and drive if it meant missing a second of being able to just look at their precious little girl.

Harry leant over a wriggling Harmony for a kiss and as Louis pressed their lips together he took a picture, his arm holding his cell as far away and as still as possible. Louis giggled and thye kiss broke, his smile too wide and his jaw aching slightly from all the grinning he’d done so far today.

“What do you think?” Harry showed him the snap he had just taken. He and Louis were beaming, glowing faces and obvious smiles, as their lips touched. Underneath them was Harmony in her car seat, calm and content with Louis’ hand on her tiny tummy. “Instagram?”

Louis laughed and nodded, “Yeah, that’s not a bad one.”

Louis leant down and nuzzled his daughters nose as Harry sat back and watched for a second before opening up Instagram. He pulled in the picture (and added a classy filter of course) and thought carefully about what to type. He grinned as his fingers flitted over the keyboard.

@Harry_Tomlinson_Styles: Finally Harmony is restored. #GoingHomeWithOurBabyGirl #MyTinyFamily ins.gm792579hg78

When he’d posted his effort he turned the cell around to show Louis who just rolled his eyes. “You horrendous cheeseball.”

He pecked a kiss to Louis’ nose and dragged himself away from the back of the car to climb in to the front. Time to finally get his tiny family home.


End file.
